Digi-scoping options? (1 Viewer)

Ok guys n gals,

Have just registered to birdforum for suggestions on buying my first ever Digiscope. Taking pictures is my hobby and here is the equipment I have for now:

Canon 550D/T2i
18-55 IS II
55-250 IS II
Close-up filters, extension tubes, ND 4, ND8, UV/protection filters....bla bla..

Now, problem is that I really can't afford to buy canon's expensive 500 mm or bigger lenses to increase my reach. I was first looking for teleconverters but then I came to know that they probably wont let me use bigger apertures and I will have to use manual focus + the image quality may suffer. I then heard someone using a big telescope as a zoom lens but as per him using a telescope I will have no control over aperture, I will have to work in Manual mode, I will have to use manual focus, and then it is very difficult to carry on tours.

Yesterday another suggestion came from one of my friend. He suggested to use a "digiscope". A what??? Its strange but I had never heard of this thing before. I did some research on digiscopes and found "Celestron Ultima" and a couple of other brands who sell their products in India. But then, it suggests that I will still have to always work in manual mode which is fine but I will have to manual focus that huge scope?? that's what made me worried.

So my questions here are:

1. Is it worth buying a digiscope for potography work (not professional work though).
2. What is ED glass lens in digiscopes? how do they benefit over non ED? coz there is a huge difference in the cost of "Celestron Ultima 80" and "Celestron Ultima 80 ED" for example.
3. Isnt it really difficult to manually focus such a big scope? specially when the birds or any object is flying/moving.
4. Has anybody used the mentioned scopes? if yes, then could someone please provide me with sample images or links to the images online? and suggest if these are good or bad.
5. Any other suggestions which can be useful for me are welcome.

Thanks.

My tip if using a Celestron Ultima 80 is to use an Opticron 40215 telephoto adapter.
Use this instead of the eyepiece.
Fits like a glove and gives you heaps better results than through the EP

Digisvoping is the process of hooking your camera to the potting scope eyepiece. Usually done with smaller cam then you slr, slr are usually used at prime focus (with no ep)
For photography ED makes big diff, the quality of photos will be much better.
It is difficult to manual focus, I use Sony next 5r with focus peaking (parts of the image in focus flash Hite on the LCD)
The ultimo ed80 is at the lower end of ED scopes, it has sameness than positive reviews-it also doesn't except 1.25" ep's like the better model celestron regal

beacon hill said:

My tip if using a Celestron Ultima 80 is to use an Opticron 40215 telephoto adapter.
Use this instead of the eyepiece.
Fits like a glove and gives you heaps better results than through the EP

Click to expand...

There is hope, then.
I just built a little adaptor for using the EP and a Nikon point-n-shoot
that isn't too bad. Things were well-centered, but, yes, but going through
the EP can be very underwhelming. :-C

What's your budget like for a scope or otherwise?

Still trying to figure that out.
I'd like to keep it to $200-400, but I'm not sure if I need a new camera. The Nikon
Coolpix P7000 I got somehow isn't as clear as a cheaper smaller Nikon I had
years ago. Adding a new camera would raise things a lot. I suppose I should put the camera
issue off for now and get something solid. My current interest is following eagles,
so getting a decent shot might be unrealistic without a great deal of spending.

So I guess.... $200-400 and just for my eyes for now. Unless I'm missing a great combination
involving a pocket camera and not much zoom.

I have a Canon 500mm lens and even with a 1.4x attached on a Canon 40D camera (1.6x) I do not get the reach that I do with my Celestron Regal M2 80ED at max zoom (60x). I am looking at digiscoping too in addition to my regular photography gear. While the image looks bright and sharp thru the scope's eye-piece, I am wondering how that would translate into an actual image when digiscoped.

One compact bridge type camera (they call these bridge cameras because it is a go-between camera between a compact Point and Shoot (P&S) and a full-blown DSLR) that I like is the Canon SX50. This camera has almost as much reach as a Canon 500mm lens with a 1.4x. The quality is better than I expected but of course at the long end of the zoom the aperture is closed down a bit so harder to have out of focus backgrounds.

There may be a newer model coming out later this year (it was rumoured to have even more zoom but remains to be seen).

As for scopes, get a good one for digiscoping. Although the Celestron Regal M2 80ED now sells for around $700 on Amazon, I got mine for significantly less (around $500+) when they had it on special.

is it a big difference if the opening is 80 mm or 100 mm?
Is e.g. the Regal 100 F-ED so much brighter than the Regal 80 F-ED as the aperture 100 vs. 80 mm seems? Because it has a longer focal length (540 mm vs. 480 mm so the ratio of focal length to aperture is f/5,4 vs. f/6 almost similar).